1992 Cricket World Cup

imagesize = 220px caption = Logo of the 1992 Cricket World Cup administrator = International Cricket Council cricket format = One Day International tournament format = Round robin and Knockout host = Australia champions = Pakistan count = 1st participants = 9 matches = 39 attendance = player of the series = Martin Crowe most runs = Martin Crowe (456) most wickets = Wasim Akram (18)The 1992 Cricket World Cup (aka Benson & Hedges World Cup) was the fifth edition of the tournament and was won by Pakistan. It was held from February 22 to March 25, 1992 in Australia and New Zealand.

Rule changes

The 1992 World Cup was the first to be held in Southern hemisphere. Australia had been hosting One Day Internationals since the beginning of the World Series Cup in 1979 with white cricket balls, coloured player clothing and black sightscreens, however, 1992 would be the first cricket World Cup to feature any of these.cite web | last = Williamson | first = Martin | title = Ruling an impossible target | publisher = Cricinfo | date = 2007-03-17 | url = http://content-www.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/285564.html | accessdate = 2007-04-28]

The format was changed from the 1987 World Cup so that the qualifying round would be played as one complete round robin without the use of qualifying groups. The initial draw was released with eight competing countries and 28 matches. Then in late 1991, South Africa were re-admitted to the International Cricket Council and the draw was changed to include them. The qualifying round would now require 36 matches.

The rule for calculating the target score for the team batting second in rain-affected matches was also changed. The previous rule simply multiplied the run rate of the team batting first by the number of overs available to the team batting second. This rule was deemed to be too much in favour of the team batting second. In an attempt to rectify this, the target score would now be calcuated by the "highest scoring overs" formula. In this system, if the team batting second had 44 overs available, their target score would be one greater than the 44 highest scoring overs of the team batting first. While the reasoning behind the system seemed sound, the weaknesses of this rule would be exposed during the World Cup.

The 1992 World Cup was won by Pakistan, captained by Imran Khan, who beat England by 22 runs in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), to see the "Cornered tigers" and Imran Khan lift the trophy. Pakistan won just one of their first five matches and only qualified for the semi-finals by beating the previously undefeated New Zealand side in their final round robin game. In one of the games Pakistan looked set to lose with England on 24-1 chasing Pakistan's score of 74 all out, but were saved by a spell of rain, which left the game as a no-result, the sides taking one point each. Without that point Pakistan would not have qualified for the semi-finals. New Zealand and South Africa were the losing semi-finalists.

South Africa's semi-final against England ended in controversial circumstances when, after a rain delay, the rule in use for revising target scores in rain-affected matches revised their target from 22 runs from 13 balls to an impossible 21 runs from one ball. This rule was replaced for One-day International matches in Australia after the World Cup, and it was eventually superseded by the Duckworth-Lewis method for the 1999 World Cup onwards. The revised D/L target for the match would have been four runs to tie or five to win from the final ball. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/tms/6502207.stm "Stump the Bearded Wonder"] , Bill Frindall explains how D&L would apply to 1992 WC semi-final]

A notable feature of this World Cup was the innovative tactics employed by New Zealand captain Martin Crowe, who opened his team's bowling with a spin bowler, Dipak Patel, rather than with a fast bowler, as is usual practice. Another innovation was the opening of the New Zealand batting by pinch hitters.

New Zealand lost only two matches in the tournament, a Group match and their Semi-final, both against Pakistan.

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